There’s a long history of movies based on popular “Saturday Night Live” sketches, but there’s also a long history of those movies totally sucking. Universal Pictures is clearly hoping that a new film being developed by The Lonely Island – the musical act behind “Dick in a Box” and “I’m On a Boat” consisting of Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone – will be more like The Blues Brothers or Wayne’s World than Stuart Saves His Family or Superstar.
Related: 6 Music Videos from The Lonely Island’s Wack Album
Hollywood Reporter reports that the new Lonely Island film will be “set in the music world” and directed by Schaffer and Taccone. Both filmmakers have worked extensively in TV, but their feature film efforts have been decidedly hit-and-miss. Akiva Schaffer directed the well-liked but unsuccessful Andy Samberg comedy Hot Rod and the not-very-well-liked and also unsuccessful Ben Stiller/Vince Vaughn comedy The Watch. Jorma Taccone directed the “SNL” spin-off MacGruber, a box office dud that later earned a cult following on home video.
But The Lonely Island remain one of the best comedy acts around, so a film focusing on the band’s amusing exploits (like the plot of their song “Japan,” about a music video that spirals wildly out of control) might be less of a gamble. For now, at least, the Lonely Island boys are almost certainly having a great day.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast and The Blue Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
